Description

Music in the homes of Vienna’s aristocrats Franz Xaver Kleinheinz was employed at the court of Prince Elector Karl Theodor in Munich …until 1799, when he left for Vienna after the Prince’s death. There he met Beethoven, who was five years younger than Kleinheinz and who also very much admired him, so much so that Beethoven entrusted the young musician with arrangements of his own works. Moreover, Kleinheinz most likely owed it to Beethoven’s recommendations that he obtained access to the most prestigious noble homes of the city, where he acquired an outstanding reputation as a piano teacher. This is when he composed the Piano Trio op. 13, which is now being presented in a modern edition. The title page of the sole surviving source – an alternative clarinet part that is unfortunately no longer extant – refers to an edition published in Vienna in 1802.